Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 40, Number 32, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 27 December 1907 — 400 ARE ENTOMBED IN PENNSYLVANIA MINE [ARTICLE]

400 ARE ENTOMBED IN PENNSYLVANIA MINE

Terrible Explosion Imprisons All the Men Working in Coal Shaft Near Connellsville. FERE ADDS TO AWFUL HORROR. _ / ’* 1 < Darr Workings, Owned by Pittsburg Coal Company, the Scene of Latest Slaughter of Miners. i ' • Four hundred miners were entombed In the Darr mines of the Pittsburg Coal Company at Jacobs Creek, on the Youghiogheny River, eighteen miles west of Connellsville, Pa. Of the victims fully 100 are Americans, the others being principally Hungarians. A terrific explosion shook the 'vicinity of the mine Thursday morning and announced to all the surrounding country that a great disaster had occurred under the surface. Smoke soon began to issue in heavy columns from the mine, which is of the slope variety. The mouth of the mine was wrecked, and this, together with the fire which was discovered raging, inside, prevented any attempt to rescue the imprisoned men. There was nothing to indicate whether it was gas or coal dust that exploded. Within a few minutes after the explosion the mouth of the pit was surrounded by the relatives and friends of the tatombed men. Smoke and flames issuing from the slope made it impossible to enter and the wives and children *were frantic. \ The scene of the explosion is on the Pittsbui’g & Lake Erie side the Youghiogheny River. Jacobs Creek, on the main line of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, is across the river. It is forty miles east of Pittsburg and eighteen miles west of Connellsville. The officials of the Pittsburg Coal Company stated that the mine was one of the largest and was equipped with the most mororn appliances for mining. The Pittsburg Coal Company mines are on both sides of the Youghiogheny River. The fuel mined in this field is used for coking purposes. The territory is a part of the original Connellsville coke field and the mines are said to contain considerable gas. THIRD HORROR IN A FORTNIGHT Mononjfah,W. Va., and Yolande Disaster Coat Live* of Hundred*. The Connellsville mine horror is the third to shock the nation within the last fortnight. An explosion in mines Nos. 6 and 8 of the Consolidation Coal Company at Monongah, W. Va., wrecked the interior of the mine and caused a loss of life at first estimated at 500, but since found to have been less than 400. Not all the bodies of men trapped in subterranean passages have been removed even yet. At last accounts 336 had been found. This disaster brought desolation to the whole city of Monongah and the surrounding region destitution and even disease have resulted. The State authorities and others have taken measures to investigate the causes rigidly and to seek greater safety for the workers. The other serious accident occurred in the Yolande coal mine, near Birmingham, Ala. The latest reports from the scene of this horror, published yesterday, show fifty-nine bodies found and twenty-two men listed as still missing. .